Discovering Fan Fiction
by Periwinkle Starfish
Summary: The girls are curious as to how Rita's laptop works, so Zac teaches them it's functions. A simple internet search on mermaids leads to much more.


Why hello there readers! I know, it's been a while since I last updated any of my stories, but I'm planning to very soon. Anyways, the one you're reading was a special request from **Kuronique Misaki **(be sure to check out her story "Birthmark") she asked if I could write a story about the characters of Mako Mermaids discovering fanfiction and reading stories about themselves.

Here are the authors with their stories I am using for this:

**Kuronique Misaki **- Birthmark.

**Heart of Mako **- Forgotten.

**Periwinkle Starfish **(me!) - The Truth Will Set You Free.

Note: I have gotten permission from these authors to use their stories for this. I don't own anything that they have created, fanfiction, or Mako Mermaids. I also quote the authors' text in this as well, and I don't own any of that too. The only thing I own are my own stories. Please enjoy!

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"Girls, I'll be right back. If you need anything, call me." Rita instructed the girls before leaving to pick up an order of seafood from the cafe. The girls were left in the grotto with nothing to do.

"I STILL don't get how Rita can fit in that thing!" Sirena gave a glance to the telephone on the coffee table.

"It's a phone, how many times do I need to explain that to you?" Nixie questioned to Sirena, "Rita calls you, and the phone is used to answer her."

"A lot of the technology Rita uses is confusing." Sirena added, examining another phone as she walked into the kitchen. Nixie and Lyla tagged along as Sirena walked a random course through the house to find what other weird things Rita had.

"So, do you still claim to be an expert on land people and such?" Lyla asked Nixie.

"Of course! I know WAY more than you guys! You wouldn't fit in so well if it wasn't for me." Nixie gave Lyla a grin. Even though she branded herself as a "land person expert" she didn't seem to know as much as she thought.

"Alright, tell me what that is." Lyla gestured to Rita's television.

"That my friend, is a..." Nixie stuttered, suddenly embarrassed that she didn't know what the object was.

"It's a box!" Sirena chimmed in cheerfully.

"Yes, a box! Thanks for backing me up, Sirena. It looks like I've taught you well." Nixie made quick work of recovering from somewhat of an embarrassing moment. Lyla only rolled her eyes.

"Ok, if you know _so much _about technology, then tell me what that is!" Lyla walked up to Rita's laptop on the dining room table. Posiden seemed wary of the girls' whereabouts, and acted as if he was guarding the computer.

"Hi boy!" Sirena stroked Posiden's fur, "do you know what that is?" She smiled as the cat purred at her scratching him under his chin.

"He's a cat! How would he know?" Nixie asked, "go on! Shoo!" Nixie got Posiden off of the table, earning an annoyed meow from him. His collar jingled as he wandered off.

"Whatever it is, it looks like the one Rita has in her office at school." Lyla examined the strange, sleek device. Their heads turned as they heard the door open.

~Meanwhile~

"Thank you once again for helping." Rita said to Zac, placing a box into her refrigerator.

"It's no problem, Ms. Santos." Zac replied as he put another box in with the other one. The girls zipped into the kitchen.

"Rita, we have a question!" Sirena reported. Rita turned to face her.

"What is it that you need?" She asked.

"Well, we need to ask about something we found in the dining room." Sirena explained, leading the four to her destination.

"Zac, what are you doing here?" Lyla questioned as Rita and Sirena were talking.

"I was helping Ms. Santos with her boxes." Zac informed, "what do you guys need help with?"

"We found a really weird box shaped thing with this thing on the bottom with a bunch of letters and numbers on it." Nixie gave her description from memory.

"So much for detail..." Lyla smirked.

"Ok, so that's one thing I don't know about! But we're going to find out." Nixie said. They got to Rita's dining room when Sirena found the foreign object.

"You're wondering what that is? It's a computer." Rita answered.

"Yeah, but what does it do?" Nixie scoffed.

"Lots of things. For example, I could print documents for the school, or go onto the internet." Rita explained, the girls giving her confused looks.

"What's an internet?" Nixie asked.

"How do you use it?" Lyla added.

"Is it as confusing as a telephone?" Sirena curiously raised her eyebrows. Rita gave a slight sigh before answering them.

"It's used for things like research. I'm sure Zac would like to explain it to you. Right Zac?" Zac gave Rita a look of confusion. But he couldn't exactly say no to his principal.

"Uh, sure Ms. Santos." Zac reluctantly agreed, he didn't want them shooting him questions at the moment. Rita left for the kitchen to prepare Poseidon's food.

"So, you use the power button to turn it on. Then you use the mouse to choose where you want to go." Zac waved the arrow about the screen. Nixie tried it, and was easily amused at how her movements were the same as the arrow on the screen.

"This is so strange..." Nixie said, moving the mouse around the screen. Zac continued his "computer 101"

"And if I click on this," Zac clicked on an icon, "we can go to the internet." The girls looked like they were still a bit confused, but they were mainly intrigued.

"What's that bar?" Lyla questioned.

"It's the search bar. You can look for things or for research like Rita said." Zac answered, "and this is a keyboard. You use it to type in the things you want to search for." He clicked on the search bar, and typed in "mermaid". Bunches of links popped up, along with some pictures.

_"A mermaid is a mythical creature consisting of the upper body of a woman, and a tail of a fish below the waist." _One definition explained.

"Land people know about our kind?" Sirena gasped.

"Yes, mermaids have been one of the most popular myths around." Rita came in, "but today's generation of pods has done a good job of keeping humans from discovering us."

"We were banned since Zac fell in the moon pool." Nixie scowled.

"It's not his fault, we never knew there was a land entrance." Lyla defended Zac.

"Let's move on, shall we?" Rita suggested. Nixie decided to use the mouse, and it took her a few tries before she successfully clicked on the viewing page for images. She scrolled through, getting a look at some drawings, claimed "real" photos of mermaids, and lots of other things. All seemed boring until Sirena pointed out something.

"Nixie! They look just like us!" She examined the picture of her, Nixie, Lyla, and Zac in the moon pool.

"What?" Nixie clicked on the image to find more pictures of them, and a few paragraphs below them.

"Everyone loved "H2o: Just Add Water", and the new spin off "Mako Mermaids" has spawned lots of success as well in it's 2013 release." Rita read, confused as to what all of this meant, "The story takes place in Gold Coast, Australia. Zac and his friend Cam go for a camping trip on the mysterious Mako Island. While exploring in the woods, he stumbles upon a strange cave, and as he enters, falls through the floor. The Mako Island pod of natural mermaids has chosen three mermaids, Nixie, Lyla, and Sirena, to guard the moon pool on the full moon. As Zac falls through the floor, he lands in the pool, and turns into a merman! Join the girls as they try to return Zac to normal."

"This must be a dream! Our story has gone public!" Sirena panicked. Rita snatched the mouse from Nixie, and typed "Mako Mermaids" in the search bar. Lot's of links came up, and she scrolled through them all, scared for the sake of keeping the secret.

"What's that?" Lyla pointed out a link, "Mako Mermaids Fan Fiction Archive."

"Now people are writing stories about this?" Rita clicked on the link to find heaps of stories.

"We need to get this sorted out. We could be in exhibit tanks soon if this stuff isn't gone." Lyla crossed her arms.

"Maybe we should read some of it to see if anyone has reported us to the government." Nixie gloomily stated.

"Oh, please, Nixie. We'll get out of this, don't worry." Sirena smiled. Even at a crazy time like that, Sirena's optimism was always there to make things better.

"Ok, let's start at this one." Rita spotted a story, "it's called Birthmark."

_"What if Zac had an adopted sister who was actually Rita's long lost daughter? Read to find out" _The description of the story read.

"Hm. That sounds interesting!" Sirena said, "can we read it?"

"...I suppose there's no harm." Rita seemed hesitant, we might as well investigate." They then started reading the first chapter.

"2 nations shall conceive a child, both from both sea and land, who shall reach 14 against a demand, and to see her mother's pod in endless fear, for the boys soul, cursed weapon shall nearly cost dear, a single choice shall result in the betrayal of a friend, Mako Island to preserve or end." Zac read the first chapter titled "The Prophecy" Intrigued, the group read more. The story was about a girl named Blair who was adopted into Zac's family. She turns out to be the long lost daughter of Rita and her love Harry. Blair discovers that she has gold scales on her legs, and one of her friends named Stephanie finds out that Blair isn't fully human! Since Blair had survived a plane crash that supposedly killed her, the prophecy continued to be fulfilled. Blair will have to choose sides: the mermaids, or humans?

And so the group read many more stories. When going back to the archive to find another story to read, Sirena found something that caught her eye.

"That's like in my song!" She exclaimed, "see? Periwinkle Starfish!" Sirena pointed to a pen name.

"It looks like this story is about you!" Nixie added, "it's called 'The truth will set you free'." This story was about Sirena and David going out for a nice lunch on the beach. Sirena almost spoils the secret, and dives into the water to avoid exposure. She tries to swim back to Rita's but gets trapped in a net. Unable to escape, she passes out from holding her breath. And who discovers that net? David's brother Joe. Will he be worthy of keeping the secret?

~Later~

"Is there one about me?" Nixie scrolled through a page or two of stories before finding one.

"Forgotten by: Heart of Mako- Scarred by Cam's betrayal, Nixie vanishes the night of her 17th birthday and is gone for 10 years. A pod of rouge merman have gained her trust; their king plans to start war against mermaids again and uses Nixie to help him create a new trident. Over his greed, can Cam gain her trust again and make her change her mind?" Lyla read the description.

"What does 'CamxNixie' mean?" Nixie asked, eyeing it at the end of the description.

"Hm..." Sirena went to the first chapter, and read an author's note:

_"AN: Here it is! My idea that was in my mind for weeks has finally come out in writing. Enjoy, Nixie/Cam lovers :)"_

"Do they mean that Cam and Nixie are together?" Sirena guessed.

"Well, they've _clearly _got their facts wrong!" Nixie ranted, "I don't even like him!" As they read through the chapters, Nixie noticed that the author had mentioned the moment when Sirena and herself were goofing around in Rita's grotto, and the part when she put on the crown and yelled "I'm queen of the sea!"

"How do they know this all happened?" Lyla questioned.

"Yeah, it's like everyone who wrote these were watching us!" Sirena added. As Rita got to the next chapter for everyone to read, she noticed something towards the top of the page.

"That's strange. It says 'TV-Mako Mermaids'." She read.

"Rita, _everything_ about this is strange." Nixie blandly replied.

"Wait..." Zac looked at what Rita pointed out, "are we on a TV show?"

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And that's that people! I know that this was very long, but thank you to everyone who stuck around. I'd like to give special thanks to Kuronique Misaki and Heart of Mako for letting me use their amazing stories. (These two are amazing writers!) And I loved getting this request because it's something totally different and outrageous and I had lots of fun writing this. As always, stay classy fan fiction writers.

~Periwinkle Starfish


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